


hey, little songbird

by goth_bee



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Gen, The Umbrella Academy - Freeform, evil!five, sparrow five, tua - Freeform, tua s3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 01:55:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28627638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goth_bee/pseuds/goth_bee
Summary: Finally back in 2019 the umbrella academy finds themselves once again spread throughout the city hiding, surviving. Five finds Luther but quickly reveals what surviving has meant for him
Comments: 5
Kudos: 19





	hey, little songbird

**Author's Note:**

> ok i really hope they don't do something like this and i know i haven't really given much background but please just indulge me

This starts with Luther cowering at end of a dark, dingy alleyway. Its mid-November and it's freezing outside, it is not snowing yet but a bite in the air suggests it probably will soon. Each morning a crust of frost covers the pavements until its melted by the sun late in the morning or by the marching of pedestrians going about their lives. It is probably about 10p.m. at night and Luther is settling down for the night or trying to anyway. The air is thick with the stench of stale piss and marijuana, a smell he’s long since gotten used to and by now adopted. An overhead light hisses and flickers above him, illuminating a small circle of chewing gum incrusted cobbles and trash. He draws his knees into his chest and hunches his back, tucking himself behind a cardboard box in an attempt to make himself look as small as possible, no easy feat. He clutches a well-worn backpack as if he’s afraid someone will try to steal it from him, it contains what precious little supplies he has, a little money, a small amount of food, not much but it’s the best he can do for now. 

He’s had to split away from the rest of his family. As a group in an unfamiliar timeline, surrounded by new enemies they were far too conspicuous. He hasn’t heard from the others in a long time, too long. At first Five had been making sure they at least kept tabs on each other and knew roughly where they were in the city in case something happened, they could quickly regroup but he had disappeared a few weeks ago. So now Luther had no idea what anyone else was doing, how they were. If they were alive even. Last he heard Vanya and Alison were together in a similar situation to him, Klaus and Diego who knew the city streets well were doing pretty well, hiding in their familiar haunts, surviving. 

He had just about dozed off, his far too thin coat pulled tightly around him, his breath misting the air around his face when he was woken by the soft sound of footsteps, echoing against the alley walls. Over his time on the streets, he’d trained himself only ever to sleep lightly, never to allow himself to be snuck up on. He raised his head ever so slightly and saw a figure approaching, they were silhouetted against the yellowish glow of a streetlight so Luther couldn’t make out any of their features. Luther rubbed his eyes to wake himself up more. There was something familiar about the figure’s gait. He tried to squish himself down, pushing his back against the wall in the hope that whoever they were didn’t notice him. 

“Long time no see, big guy.” Five strolled casually circle of light.

He looked good compared to Luther, his hair was well groomed, his face clean, he was wearing dark jeans and a navy blue peacoat buttoned up against the cold night. His nose wrinkled in disgust at the smell or the sight of Luther in such squalor, it was difficult to tell which. Luther got to his feet and stretched, groaning slightly as his shoulders popped. It was weird seeing five out of his usual uniform, it felt wrong somehow. He stood with his hands shoved in his coat pocket’s looking completely at ease which annoyed Luther for some reason, while he had been slumming it out in alleyways, bus shelters if he was lucky his brother had been making himself comfortable. 

“Where have you been, Five?” He demanded, “you stopped showing up I haven’t seen you in months, I thought something had happened. Where are the others? Have you talked to them recently? How is Alison? Tell me she’s OK.” 

Five vaguely waved a hand in the air almost as if to waft his questions away. “Come on, I’ll tell you on the way. We should get moving, I don’t want to stay here any longer than is absolutely necessary.” With that he turned on his heel and walked back down the alleyway. 

Luther swung his backpack over his shoulder and ran to catch up with him. “Where are we going? Have you found a way for us to get home? You’ve done it, haven’t you. You’ve fixed the timeline.” Luther grinned at the thought of going home, everything could go back to normal. Five shook his head slightly, frowning. 

He took a moment to answer and when he did, he spoke slowly, almost as if he was pondering over each word before he said it aloud. “I’ve certainly done something. The others were ok last time I saw them, Alison and Vanya are out of town for the moment, they can both take care of themselves.” He narrowed his eyes, deep in thought. They walked in silence for a bit, Five leading the way, seemingly completely sure and confident as he walked through the twisted streets. 

“Where are we going then? If we’re not meeting the others?” Luther asked eventually. 

“I think…it’s probably best I tell you when we get there.” Five replied, a barely disguised tremor in his voice. 

“No, you show up after a month of not talking looking like this. You haven’t let us talk to each other since May and now suddenly you’re taking me to god knows where. You’re up to something and unless you tell me what I’m not playing along.” 

Fives shoulders slumped and he stopped in the middle of the street, Luther almost walked into him. He paused for a moment and seemed to be counting to ten. He blinked slowly and massaged his temples looked up at Luther and sighed. Closer up Luther noticed a fading yellow bruise around his right eye and a small smear of blood along his hairline. 

“Luther, do me a favour and don’t make this any more difficult than it already is for me. This is a bit of a pain but please just come with me and don’t ask any questions. I will explain everything as soon as I can, I promise. I just…please just go along with it, it’ll only be for a little while. I hope.” He mumbled that last part, not meeting Luther’s eyes.

“No Five, you’re the reason we’re in this mess in the first place, why should we trust you to get us out of it, you don’t exactly have a very good track record do you.” Luther said pointedly, a hint of accusation creeping into his voice. 

Five looked up at him, a look hurt and disbelief on his face. “You think this is my fault? After everything I’ve done you blame me for this situation. Do you have any idea what I’ve put myself through? How much I’ve done for all of you?” 

“Five what are you-” Luther started but Five cut him off with a savage look. He turned and continued walking leaving Luther to trail behind. 

“I haven’t messed up shit, you want to know why all this happened? You all turned out to be such colossal failures and of course the old bastard couldn’t blame himself for that outcome. So, he replaced us, adopted a different cohort of freaks. Turns out there were forty-three of us in total so he could certainly afford to pick and choose, but most didn’t survive infancy, any that did well the lucky ones weren’t all that powerful, they never found out about their…gifts, the unlucky ones well…” Five trailed off and grimaced, “let’s just say they ended up a bit weird.” 

“This is amazing! How did you find all this out?” Luther asked, forgetting about his accusation just a few moments before. He glanced down at his brother who was now looking around nervously, he had quickened his pace, so Luther almost had to jog to keep up, despite his longer stride.

“Let’s just say I didn’t embarrass myself quite as much as the rest of you.” He stopped again and glanced around. Luther, who hadn’t been paying much attention to their surroundings, they were in a small courtyard, bordered by four dark stone buildings, frost was starting to form on the ground, it glittered in the light of a streetlamp. Five’s eyes briefly locked on something behind Luther.

“Ah, I believe we have arrived.” He said loudly, in a voice full of forced confidence. 

He lowered his voice and spoke urgently, leaning in desperation in his eyes. “Luther please, I don’t know what they’re going to do but I promise everything is going to be fine. I swear I will fix this.”

A noise came from behind him and just as Luther was twisting round to see what it was Five smacked him in the chin using the heel of his palm with a force that should have been impossible for someone his size. Luther’s head snapped back, and his vision dimmed. suddenly he felt incredibly woozy. He fell to one knee. Someone sauntered into view and stood with his arms crossed positioned slightly protectively in front of Five. A few other people melted from the shadows and joined them, but Luther was focusing on the first one, it was Ben or his face at least, he was wearing a uniform similar to the one he grew up in but different, wrong in ways his brain couldn’t process. It was that of the sparrow academy. 

“Ah, number Five, you made it I see,” a voice said, Luther couldn’t tell which of the dark figures it came from but Five stiffened.

“Of course I did,” he snapped back, indignantly.

“Five? What’s happening? You’re with these assholes?” Luther choked. 

Ben smirked at Five, who fixed an uncomfortable smile to his face in return. His eyes flickered to Luther and his hands twitched, curling into fists. For a second it looked like he was about to lash out at the people surrounding him. They all seemed to be watching him expectantly, waiting for his next action. Without warning he lunged to clock Luther in the side of the head. But Luther had recovered more than he’s bargained for, Luther ducked so the punch only clipped the top of his head. Luther swung his arm and in one smooth motion knocked Five’s feet from under him and caught him in a chokehold. The sparrow academy tensed falling into defensive stances, but Ben shook his head and none of them made any move to help. Luther stood up using Five’s writhing body as a shield and backed away from the group. 

“Luther please, just come with us quietly, let them do what they want, make it easier for both of us.” Five gasped. He wriggled his shoulders trying to slip out of Luther’s grip, but Luther sonly tightened his hold. 

“Or what, you little shit.” Luther spat. 

Five sighed resigning himself to the fact that he was going to have to do this the hard way. In a flash of blue Luther’s arms closed on nothing. Something hit the back if his leg and his knee buckled, another blue flash and Five was in front of him kicking him in the throat. Luther stumbled backwards but Five was there to knock him in the side of the head with a blow that made his vision swim. Five cursed jumping back to avoid Luther’s kick and fished something, a small glass bottle with a yellow label and a white handkerchief out of his coat pocket. He fumbled over the lid, pouring some liquid from the bottle onto the cloth which he then shoved under Luther’s nose. A sickly-sweet smell filled his nose overwhelming his senses for a moment.

He fell to the ground. 

Unconscious.

Formerly Ben nudged the limp Luther with his foot, a look of repulsion at the sight and smell of such a grand creature, so easily brought to the ground. Five twitched slightly at that as if he wanted to say or do something in his brother’s defense, a movement he pretended not to notice.

“Well done, number Five,” he praised in a honeyed voice, “Shall we get this oversized oaf home then.”


End file.
